EDITORIAL

Are we, as some sociologists tell us, "The Last Minority"? Are we the only minority left in this country that can be made the butt of a public social joke?

Recently, "Entertainer" Dean Martin at California Governor Brown's inaugural ball told the following "joke": "Says a man to the bartender, 'How do you make a fruit cordial?' Says the bartender, 'I don't know, just be nice to him, I guess.'

Now, in these days, would Martin have dared tell any other kind of a minority joke? Would he, for instance, have dared tell such a joke involving a Negro or a Jew? Of course not. Some years ago, yes, that was done. But not today. Times have changed and, getting it down to brass tacks, in this instance that means that the status of some minorities has changed.

After the laughter died down following his "joke," Martin added: "And they told me I shouldn't tell that joke!"

Who told him? We bet two to one it was a member of some minority that in the past had been the target for such a vicious attack.

Some people a certain kind of people need other people they can look down on. To this kind of person, such a belief is as necessary to their minds as food is to their stomachs.

This trait in humans is no joke. Ask the Negro who has been beaten, tarred and feathered. Ask the Jew whose parents were gassed by the Nazis.

Times have changed, and at a big political gathering today, nobody tells a joke against a Jew or a Negroand for a damn good reason. Each minority organized. It organized money-wise, press-wise, and political-wise. And fought.

"Times" just don't "change." It is done by people.

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K. O. NEAL, Associate Editor

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